The dawn of a new era
by anonymous abandoned account
Summary: How do technology and magic fit together? What role does the shadow realm play in the fight against the Goa'uld? And why is the International Cenfederation of Sorcery suddenly so interested in the happenings in Domino City?


**.:The dawn of a new era:.**

by Barallochiel

**Disclaimer: **Everything about Yu-Gi-Oh! and Stargate belogs to their legally held copyright owners and not to me. Only some original characters that will make their appearance in this story are mine. No money is made with this story and it only exists to the amusement of myself and possible readers. Thank you.

**Summary:** How do technology and magic fit together? What role does the shadow realm play in the fight against the Goa'uld? And why is the International Cenfederation of Sorcery suddenly so interested in the happenings in Domino City? SG-1 and the gang around Pharao Atemu are about to find out that there is more to this world than they could ever have imagined.

**A/N: **This story is so far rated T for course language and some adult themes. This may change later on when the story is developing, but I will notyfy you at the top of any chapter in question should this be the case. I am not a native english speaker and would like to apologize at this point for any mistakes. I hope you have fun reading this and I am not at all aversed to constructive criticism :).

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><p><strong>Chapter One – Let the games begin!<strong>

Nothing would have indicated that this day should turn out any different then its predating ones, as the young CEO of the infamous Kaiba Corporation was minding his own business – in the truest sense of the word.

While his day-to-day work life surely was neither ordinary nor monotonously repetitive, it did have a closely followed and meticulously scheduled routine.

On this particular day for example said CEO Seto Kaiba had already sat through a couple of meetings with his department heads, minor business partners or counselling bodies for his various affairs and projects, even though it was only half past 11 am.

As a very busy man Seto Kaiba had long ago hired a Personal Assistant, which was now scurrying after her boss, as he purposely strode through his main company building with ground eating strides. The CEOs bearing was rigid, displaying power, arrogant and cold inapproachability even if said male was only 17 years of age.

"Sasaki, move my meeting with this ridiculously incompetent excuse of a Company leader to next week! Then get me the project reviews this moron Yamada should have mailed me two hours ago! Is it too much to ask for all of you to do your job?", the obviously irritated man snapped without even looking back or pausing in his angry stride through the corridors, frightening his more sensible hearted employees to flee out of his way.

His PA Ayame Sasaki, like always struggling to keep up with her boss, was madly scribbling in her pocketbook while he was giving orders. Pinched under one of her arms was her notebook with the meeting transcripts and she wore a concentrated expression on her frowning face.

Of course she let his rude remark slide. She was used to harsher ones after all and she would never dream of talking back to Seto Kaiba. This attitude saved her job numerous times already. The CEO didn't even seem in to mood to listen to any verbal confirmation of his orders, so she wisely kept silent as he ranted on.

Together they entered the elevator, which lead to the uppermost floors. During the whole ride Seto Kaiba was snapping out orders, while Sasaki scribbled down notes and typed all the necessary personnel to immediately complete the boss' wishes.

The elevator came to a halt just as Seto Kaiba finally fell silent. This was Sasakis cue to start briefing the man beside her for the next item on his schedule.

"Master Kaiba, at 1200 hours a meeting has been arranged with Mr. Nicholas Flaemming…", she started to say in a calm but strong and businesslike tone, but Seto Kaiba cut her off before she could say more.

"And why on earth is that? If I arranged meetings with every random imbecile who comes along and wants to speak to me where would that get us? I told you to ignore that man!"

"Master Kaiba…"

"Don't Master-Kaiba me! When I give you an order I expect it to be followed, have I made myself clear?" Two piercing blue eyes where now boring down on Sasaki, fury swirling in their depths. Seto Kaiba had stopped dead in his track to round back on his PA, posture demanding, his arms angrily crossed in front of his chest. Impatiently he waited for her answer.

"Of course Master Kaiba!", Ayame Sasaki answered dutifully, not at all phased by her boss' outburst. "But the man was very persistent and I think you should at last listen to what he has to say, sir.", she said standing her ground and calmly gazing back at the enraged CEO.

"I don't pay you to give me advice you little cretin! Cancel the meeting and free up my afternoon, I'm going home to do my work there where none of you feckless idiots is going to bother me!"

With that the young man spun around and left down the corridor in the direction of his office without a backward glance, leaving his PA to scurry after him.

* * *

><p>At the same time there was a man in the office of the Kaiba Corporation CEO aimlessly wandering around the room and inspecting everything with an unassuming if not slightly amused expression on his weathered face. His gray hair and wrinkled skin indicated mature age, but his movements were full of energy and zeal, indicating a spry body which had not jet succumbed to the weaknesses of old age.<p>

The man was humming pleasantly and inspecting a little Blue Eyed White Dragon figurine on the CEOs desk interestedly, as the door burst open and Seto Kaiba himself stormed into the room, his PA hot on his heals. Only to stop short as he caught sight of the other man.

Surprise registered shortly in his expression, but then it was gone as fast as it came and he put on his cold mask again, never one to give his enemy even the slightest hold over himself.

"Sasaki call security!" the CEO barked, before he backed the intruder against his large imposing desk. The tall CEO cut a very intimidating figure most of the time and now he tried to use this as his advantage, but the older man seemed not to be fazed. He just held up his hands in a disarming gesture, a small smile on his lips.

"What in the world gave you the absurd notion that you could just waltz into my office like that? I told you already that I don't waste my precious time on insane idiots like you! You will regret to ever have bothered me!" Seto Kaiba hissed angrily in the other mans face, lips drawn back in a soundless snarl.

"Well, the fact that I _could_ simply waltz into your office, as you so eloquent put it, despite the high security measures in this entire building should be enough reason to give me a second thought, no?" the stranger asked mildly, seeming not in the least worried. Behind the two men the office doors barged open a second time this morning as Ayame Sasaki, followed by two burly and tall men in black suits and sunglasses, entered.

The security guards didn't beat around the bush, but stepped forward and grabbed the intruder at the upper arms and held him securely between their impressive frames. They may not have been taller than the stranger, but they were nearly twice breadthways than the slender man, who did nothing to resist the rough manhandling.

Seto Kaiba meanwhile was seething with anger. While the fact that the other man was able to enter his office _was_ worrying, at this moment the CEO couldn't have cared less.

"Even if some brainless fraud had the audacity to arrange a meeting, behind my back no less, it doesn't mean that you have permission to enter this building wander around as you please! That's trespassing! I should press charges!" The young businessman ranted, while Sasaki didn't even blink at the insult, but stepped forward in her boss' line of sight to interfere should the situation get out of hand. But Kaiba seemed to come to his senses and gestured to his guards to take the man away. But not before remarking "As it is I cancelled our meeting! Goodbye and I _do not_ want to have to see you _ever_ again!"

The three men left without protest form the stranger and when the doors swung shut behind them, Kaiba stalked around his desk and sunk into his big office chair. He rubbed his temples but not moments later snapped his head back up to bark "What?" at his PA, who was frowning down at him with a disapproving expression.

He narrowed his eyes at her, daring her to comment, but of course the woman seemed to be immune to his stare of doom as she always seemed to be. She did her work exemplary and was the best PA in a log list of applicants so far. Those were the only reasons the CEO had not jet fired her. Or at last that was what he always told himself in situations like this.

Ayame Sasaki was standing in front of his desk, fists propped up at the hips, after unceremonially dumping her stuff on the desk top, but no sound came over her lips. Lecturing her boss would be _way_ out of line after all.

Kaiba made a dismissive sound at the back of his throat and demonstratively turned away form the woman in front of him.

"Get this situation figured out." he ordered without looking up, trying to get his temper and irritation back under control. "Get the surveillance videos looked at, interrogate all personnel on duty in this part of the building and get me the head of security up to my office ASAP. Report back with results as fast as you can."

Sasaki let out a quiet sigh but did promptly as she was told, leaving her boss to his thoughts.

Kaiba hated it, when his anger got the better of him. He knew even without his PAs disapproving stare that he did act like a spoiled brat and not like it would have been befitting of the chief executive officer of a multibillion company like Kaiba Corporation most of the time.

But he _did_ slip up quite badly today though. He rubbed his temple again. He was so quick to anger as of late. Maybe he should go home and spend a few days with his brother instead of constantly burying himself neck-deep in work. He let out a tired sigh as he felt a headache building. Lately he did have those more often as well.

Having made up his mind, he let his hands slide down on the tabletop and then went to grab his headset from where it was laying in his desk to put it on so he could easily arrange his business with Sasaki while collecting his stuff to take home.

As he did so, his gaze swept over the entire length of his desk and for the second time this day Kaiba was surprised. But this time it was instead of being mixed with anger, mixed with uneasiness and puzzlement.

Slowly he reached out to grab the object of his surprise. It was a little origami dragon quite similar to his Blue Eyed White Dragon figurine and just as tall, sitting there innocently beside its brother seemingly staring up at Kaiba through non existent little white paper eyes.

The CEO picked it up and inspected it closely. Who knew it was possible to fold a duel monster dragon out of plain paper?

Curiously frowning at the little artful masterpiece, it remembered Kaiba at something that did happen a few days ago; the day he first met Mr. Nicholas Flaemming.

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><p><em>It was late in the evening and Seto Kaiba was on his way home. He was alone and on foot, having forgone his limousine for once to walk off the headache that had tormented him the whole afternoon. Luckily his mansion wasn't far away from the company building. <em>

_His chief of security Harue Yamada would surely have a fit, if he knew his boss was walking through the streets of Domino city at night time, not even accompanied by at last one bodyguard. _

_But even though Kaiba was a very successful and rich man, he never made a big point of taking what would be considered the safest course of action by Harue Yamada. Which didn't make the other mans work easy. But who said that working for Seto Kaiba was ever easy?_

_That night the moon was shining bright and a light breeze was rustling in the leaves on the trees between sidewalk and carriageway. Once in a while a car would drive by, but there was nobody else about. _

_Kaiba was deeply lost in thought over a new project he wanted to initiate as soon as possible now that the summer was drawing to an end and preparation for Christmas would need to be on their way soon, if they wanted to make the huge turnover off of this nearly exclusively commercial holiday again this year. _

_So it really was no wonder that Kaiba was startled out of his thoughts when there suddenly was somebody standing in front of him. The CEO came to a sudden halt because he would otherwise have bowled the other man over. _

_Kaiba sneered into the face of the older man in front of him and tried to simply step around him, not offering any apologies of course. But the man just simply stepped aside as well, blocking the CEOs path again. Both men were nearly the same height and of the same slender built as they stood there staring at each other. _

_The man, who had confronted the CEO had steel grey hair and green eyes. Even though his now smiling face was marked with laugh lines, they did not entirely have the ability to hide the lines of hardship and harsh life experience which were just as present on his face. _

_The man was furthermore wearing an undistinguishable dark coloured cloak and dark trousers. His black leather boots were timeworn but well cared for. He was standing only partly in the light of one of the street lamps, so Kaiba could not see him very clearly even though he had fully scrutinized the man by now. His counterpart had done the same, but had been a lot more discreet about it._

"_Get out of my way!" Seto Kaiba remarked ill tempered, being the first to break the silence._

_Kaiba was of course not prepared for the stranger to simply step aside, the soft smile widening on his lips. Mistrustful Kaiba looked first at the man then around. Something was clearly off about the situation. The hair on Kaibas neck began to stand on edge as he strained to listen into the night for treacherous sounds, never taking his eyes off the man beside him._

"_There is no need Mr. Kaiba." The stranger said pleasantly "Would I have wanted to do you any harm, don't you think I would have done it by now?"_

_The CEO locked eyes with the stranger clearly trying to stare him down, not willing to let his guard down even though he somehow felt the truth in the other mans statement. _

"_What do you want?" He asked instead his tone brisk, eager to dissolve this situation. _

"_I just wanted to talk." The stranger said. "But where are my manners! Pardon me, my name is Nicholas Flaemming." _

_Kaiba did not take the offered hand, but Flaemming seemed not in the slightest affronted. _

"_I don't have time for idiots and I surely don't make a habit out of talking to random strangers!" With these words Kaiba swept past the other, accelerating his steps a little, but not enough to give the impression he was fleeing from the other man, having decided he had best get home as not to worry Mokuba, who was doubtless waiting by now._

_Soft steps behind him were indicating that Flaemming was following however. Kaiba decided to ignore the man as long as he didn't try something funny and went on ahead._

"_Now, now I think I could tell you a lot of interesting things." Flaemming went on as if they had decided to engage in a pleasant conversation. "I already noticed that you seem to be hell bent to ignore your destiny and I must say I find that very intriguing!"_

_Flaemming had by now closed the gap on Kaiba and was easily walking beside him, all the while having a nonchalant air about himself. _

"_A man drilled in the curious arts of science and technology, faithfully adhering the dogmas of atheism and evolutionism, it is truly interesting that you should be intended to be much more then just the puppet of a faithless world." Flaemming announced while looking over at Kaiba as to gauge his reaction, but the other kept his stony silence._

"_I must admit that I too fancy calling myself a man of science even though I don't forget the deeper side of this reality. And I found that it is nearly impossible to outrun ones fate."_

"_I carve my own destiny, old fool! I won't be listening to your meaningless babbling any longer!" Kaiba finally snapped. He had reached the gates to his mansion and pressed the key on the intercom that would open the gate for him after one of the security guards affirmed over one of the cameras that he was no intruder. He had had enough. _

"_Mark my words!" Flaemming called after him as Kaiba entered trough the gate, but he didn't follow. When Kaiba turned around one last time the other man was gone. _

_On the gray asphalt of the sidewalk directly in front of the mansion gate however sat a little origami crane. Kaiba ignored it._

* * *

><p>A determinate and precise knocking sound drew Kaiba from his thoughts. He was still staring at the white innocent paper dragon sitting in his hand like it had personally offended him.<p>

"Come in!" he called quickly as he sat the little artwork down, a frown firmly in place on his brow.

The door swung open admitting Harue Yamada inside. The chief of security of the Kaiba Corporation was like his guards a compact muscular man. He had short hair and eagle like eyes which were now fixed on his boss. Those who new Yamada well knew that he was a mother hen. Of course nobody would have dared say that to his face.

"Master Kaiba, a copy of the security tapes from last night has been sent to your computer. I already looked through them myself and am ready to discuss them with you, sir." The man said as he came to stand in front of Kaibas desk. The young CEO was calling his computer back out of standby modus, now intently looking at the screen and purposefully ignoring the troubled tone in his employee's voice.

"Mrs. Sasaki has already drawn up a list of all the personnel on duty and I will personally begin questioning as soon as possible, sir. You will understand as soon as you have seen the tape."

After having said that the chief of security fell silent, observing the other man worriedly while he was watching aforementioned videos. He of course already knew what was happening on the tape and was not at all shocked to see various emotions flicker over the CEOs normally so passive and cold face. Yamada was very concerned what impact all of this could possibly have on the company and particularly on the boss himself, above all knowing about all those _abnormal _things that had happened to the Kaiba brothers since they came in contact with that Mutou-kid.

"Yamada, are those…" Kaiba asked after a while, looking up from his screen to let his cold gaze bore hard and demanding into his chief of security's. Yamada who knew Kaiba long enough could see that he too was worried by what he was seeing. That he wasn't foaming with anger jet was probably due to shock.

"Yes Master Kaiba. Nobody could have tempered with them." Yamada reassured his boss not hurt by the obvious mistrust, but rather glad that Seto Kaiba remembered to make sure not to take everything at face value.

But on the other side of the desk Kaiba was now fuming again. He could not belief what he was seeing! Flaemming was walking through his halls unhindered even though enough workers of Kaiba Corporation were about and should have been able to notice and report an unauthorised visitor. It was part of their working contract to report such happenings after all!

Full of anger Kaiba knocked his hand down on the table top, having jumped up from his chair.

There on the screen was now a scene playing out he didn't like in the slightest: all the workers, who came face to face with Flaemming, some so close they could have touched him, didn't show any inkling of perceiving him at all!

Either he had a mass-betrayal on his hands, which ramifications he didn't even want to _think _about, or… But here Kaiba stopped short in his thoughts, denial setting in with well practised ease.

"Yamada, I want… no I need to know what is going on! I want those workers questioned! I can't believe that they worked here for so long… find out who they are working for, what this person wants and who this lunatic Flaemming is!" The CEO snapped at his chief of security, agitatedly walking back and forth behind his desk thinking about all the enemies he had made over the years. "And somebody call and see if Mokuba is alright!"

"Of course Master Kaiba" Yamada answered and turned around to do as ordered, as his boss quickly took his briefcase and trench coat, picked up a little origami figure from his desk and moved to accompany the other man out of the office. "I will be coming with you."

Yamada nodded and together they were on their way.

"Who is that from, sir? I didn't know you liked origami?" Yamada asked carefully with a sideward glance at the CEOs hand.

"And I don't! But I don't know how that could possibly be any of your business!" said man snapped ill-tempered, extremely annoyed that Yamada took the liberty to ask something personal. Yamada was unfazed and asked in a conversational tone: "I am sorry sir. But the security guard on duty Monday night reported to having noticed a similar origami crane in front of the main gates around 2027 hours shortly after you entered the property."

Watching his boss with hawk eyes Yamada saw him wince slightly, wearing an expression of forced neutrality.

"Sir, as your chief of security I need to know everything that could concern your or Master Mokuba's safety!" Yamada reproached gently knowing intimately the explosive temper of his boss. Kaiba however chose for once not to put his employee down, knowing despite his aggravation that the other man was right.

He crushed the little origami animal in his hand, not in the mood to injure his pride by telling Yamada about his previous encounter with Flaemming.

He was about to throw it away for the next cleaning squad to take away, when he noticed something strange on one of the visible paper edges. There was a black smudge on the otherwise pristine white paper.

Curious despite his anger he took a closer look and after this didn't bring the desired results began to unfold the little figure.

Dumfounded he stopped in his tracks once he was done. There on the ca A4-big sheet of paper was a massage written down with black ink:

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><p><em>For those who serve the old ways in darkness or in light, <em>

_their destiny is clear when they look deep inside. _

_You Priest have been called so long ago,_

_to pray to darkness, to gamble your soul. _

_The truth can not lie, _

_as much as your fate will never die. _

* * *

><p>"Enough is enough! I have had plenty with this destiny-rubbish! This will end now!" Kaiba burst out, much to the surprise of his chief of security and some of the workers in hearing distance. Yamada, who had paused as well when the CEO fell out of step beside him, looked concernedly at the piece of paper in the other man's hand.<p>

"Sir…" he began tentatively, only to have the paper rudely trust into his chest. He took it wordlessly, searching the face of the young man before him. At an impatient gesture he quickly looked down and examined the wrinkled piece. Only to bewilderedly look up seconds later.

"But sir…" he said being uneasy as to what was the meaning of this whole affair.

"What is it now?" Kaiba snapped clearly coming to the end of his tether, _again_.

"I can't read this, sir."

"Oh for god's sake!" Kaiba snatched the paper back, shooting his chief of security a scathing glare before looking back down, only to freeze mid-motion.

There on the white surface of the sheet stood the text he so easily read not moments ago, but what he first thought to have been normal Japanese kanji where in fact beautifully drawn hieroglyphics.


End file.
